


Robert And Nicola At Victoria Cottage

by theprincessed



Series: Village Talk [13]
Category: Emmerdale
Genre: Canon Compliant, Christmas Presents, Conversations, Gen, Work Colleagues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-13
Updated: 2016-12-13
Packaged: 2018-09-08 09:34:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,273
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8839519
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theprincessed/pseuds/theprincessed
Summary: Robert sees Nicola struggling and decides to help. The results are mixed…





	

**Author's Note:**

> Hiya! I miss writing and, more specifically, actually _finishing_ something so it’s VT time again! This didn’t turn out how I expected. I thought Nicola deserved some soft, lovely words…but she didn’t want them LOL. Oh well, Robert tried at least.
> 
> Enjoy this small offering as I try and get my mojo back for everything x

Robert is on his way towards Bob's to pick up a quick coffee before popping in to the scrapyard to see Aaron when he hears a commotion behind him. Or, more accurately, a couple of thuds and a lot of angry, frustrated words. He turns and looks at the cottages opposite and spots Nicola standing in front of Victoria Cottage's front door, good arm laden down with bags and her much maligned walking stick standing at her other side. He watches her kick the door, creating the thud again, and sighs, squaring his shoulders to be ready for a fight as he crosses the road.

“Stupid bags, stupid keys, stupid arm!” he hears Nicola hiss venomously once he gets close enough so that he can clear his throat to tentatively announce his presence. She throws a look over her shoulder like a weapon, blue eyes stormy, and sneers. “What do you want?”

Robert rolls his eyes, hands stuffed in the pockets of his leather jacket. “Why do you always assume I want something?”

“I don't need your help, if that's what you're thinkin',” she says instead of answering the question. He made it fairly rhetorical anyway; he knows why some would have a hard time believing he'd willingly do something that wasn't for his benefit. He blinks and gives her a steady look, which works enough that she takes hold of her stick to move it out of the way. “I can't get the door open with all this on me arm,”

He holds out his palm flat for her keys and she hands them over with another beady, sharp stare, watching him closely as he unlocks the cottage and moves in first so that Nicola has room to follow. He stands in the open doorway to the hallway and she brushes past him, shoving the bags onto the sofa then lifting the bottoms to upend all the contents. He puts the keys down and turns to leave, figuring his good deed is done and Nicola won't want him hovering.

“Robert?” she calls, her voice cracking uncertainly. He doesn't make a big deal about it. Even so, she looks away from his expectant face to the pile of Christmas wrapping paper and fancy ribbons now spread out across the seats before she reaches for a roll of sellotape. 

“Are ya any good with this?”

\---

Ten minutes later, they're already bickering about the best amount to cut off the roll of wrapping paper and how many strips of sellotape are needed to secure each fold. Nicola won't allow him full reign because she's stubborn and Robert doesn't want to do it anyway as this is weird as it is. He sees her place a sheet of wrapping paper on her lap then the cardboard box of a toy before the fingers of her good hand mould both together. It's the first time in a long time Robert's looked – really _looked_ – at how his business partner is coping with her paralysis and he feels a niggle of guilt for how he treated her when she got out of hospital. He used her to make sure that Home James was still ticking over nicely and that Jimmy would be the one to go to Odessa for a job, not him. He knew she'd hate to be mollycoddled by her husband, but he knows now that sometimes it's the best thing for you, even when you don't realise it yourself.

“Oi, I'm not tolerating you for this much longer if you're not gonna pull your weight,” Nicola snaps, yanking him out of his thoughts.

He tears another piece of sellotape with his teeth just to be difficult when Nicola is brandishing the scissors and sticks it down to secure the paper over the box. “I know what you're like,” he smirks, choosing to joke to deny to himself that he had a concerned thought about the woman sat next to him. “You'll just get Jimmy to replace me. Actually, where _is_ Jimmy?”

“Sellotape.” she barks instead, “He's on a job in, uh, Lyon,” she adds once he's stuck the corner down.

“So, you're on your own? With the kids?” Robert raises his eyebrows, “Must be tough.”

“My dad's here everyday, but I'm coping just fine, thank you,” she says haughtily.

“Are you?”

She shifts the completed box from her lap and picks up another individual sheet of paper, avoiding his gaze again. “Why do you care?”

“Because we're in business together, I never knew there was a job going in France, and,” he pitches his voice lower, softer, his guilt rising to the surface, “I should've asked you about things before.”

“I don't need your approval, Robert, and I certainly don't need your help, however much of a reformed character you might be,” she says, fiddling with the ends with a shaky grip.

Robert places the sellotape on top of the join of paper and smirks. “I'm helping now though, eh?”

“Because sellotape is made by Satan himself and is enough of a headache with two good hands!”

He concedes she has a point. “Hm, I must admit, I'm not looking forward to the extra lot of wrapping I'll have to do this year.”

“And for the Dingles no less,” For the first time, she looks amused. She always did take pleasure in his misfortune. “How is Aaron?”

“You really want to know?”

“No, I'm just doing what you did to me.” she retorts smartly, “See, it's not nice when someone pokes their nose where it's not wanted,”

“Alright, I get it,”

He's surprised to feel her shoulder nudge his. He thinks it might've been an accident because it's her paralysed side but, when he looks at her face, her mouth has the ghost of a smile. “Are you gonna cry?”

“That was one time and we said we'd never speak of it again!” he protests, using his shocked laughter to distract the need to blush. It will always be uncomfortable that Nicola was his first and how young and vulnerable he felt when she brushed him off, but they hadn't brought it up since the disastrously drunk voicemail she sent two years ago to get back into her job at Home Farm.

“Does Aaron know? About...that?” _Me 'popping your cherry'?_

Robert nods, awkward. “He said Vic told him, 'cause she's got a big gob on her sometimes. And I was with Chrissie, so it didn't matter what anyone thought, least of all him at the time.”

They work silently for another present before a curl of ribbon catches Robert's engagement ring and he nearly pulls the perfect decoration clean off. With a roll of her eyes, he sees Nicola not able to keep her eyes away from the ring. “Engaged again, eh?” she says finally.

“Second and last marriage,” he says emphatically.

“Spoken like a true fiancé,” she snorts, but not totally unkindly.

To Robert, Nicola seems to be acting a bit more cynical than usual, which is saying something, but he doesn't press the issue now. He's not entirely sure that he believes she's coping well with three kids, brain injury influenced paralysis and her husband working away long-distance, but he knows how to do this. He was there for Aaron when he needed him the most because he loves him. He might not love Nicola romantically or as family, but she's always honest to his face and they share a common interest, so he'll sit here and argue over how best to wrap a bunch of children's toys. He's trying to be better and what a more apt time than near to Christmas.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading, lovelies x
> 
> I'm on tumblr at [theprincessed](http://www.theprincessed.tumblr.com). Come chat to me. :)


End file.
